Thought i would share with you guys what a local pet shop told me during the weekend.

I asked him how many Comets does he recommend for a 120ltr fish tank, knowing that he prob say more than you can but he said 20!!! Now i havnt been keeping fish for very long but even i know that is way to many!!!

This is incredible.... again sbdy who sees the almighty dollar... it just makes me cringe....and no wonder that so many new fishkeepers face trouble and give this beautiful hobby away after failure.... Isn't it sooooo sad.

Glad to share this with us, australiancomet

120l >>>> 3 goldfish, very max 4.

Our comets are in a 150 l tank, they are 5. It is pushing. But I keep a very, very close eye on them and the waterquality.

In my experience with pet shop owner advice, there's a portion of good and bad (mostly bad). Some people know what they're doing and care about the homes their fish go to, others want to make a buck. Still others are ineducated and just tell you what they reason would be best out of their ignorance. You have to learn to discern between what is acceptable and what is not so much. If you go to a specialty fish store, they will MOST LIKELY give you sound, reasonable advice which you can go by. If you go to a chain store such as Petsmart or Petco it's pretty much a 50/50 chance of getting good info. If you go to Walmart...dream on.

The important thing is to choose your advice wisely and always check here at Petgoldfish where people actually know what they're doing!!! XD

Whoah that is a lot of fish. Kudos to you australiancomet for knowing this guy was completely wrong and not buying 20 goldfish! Most people who work in generic pet stores are taught hardly anything about fish keeping, and the ones that do know their stuff have learnt from experience or by doing their own research. I don't think its too much to ask for employees to learn the basic rules of fish keeping especially with such common pets such as goldfish.

On a slightly related note....I heard the other day that in Victoria, Australia they have passed a law so that only adults (18+) can purchase fish. (Just looked it up, and apparently this applies to all pets not just fish!) (Link is not visible to guests. Please register to view.)
I think that this a good step forward...but there are a lot of other things that need to be done to ensure fish and other animals alike go to good homes where they are cared for correctly. Thoughts?

Abbie: I heard about that! But how often does it happen that a child buys a goldfish on their own? It's usually their mother that buys a tank and some fish for the kid to care for, same with bunnies, kittens, hamsters... well, you know what I mean.In other words, I don't think the law is going to help much actually Not to mention that even if adults buy fish, some can have absolutely no clue about them! Just look at the staff for instance!

I remember when I brought my two orandas home and the guy in the shop was like: "Do you have any bowl for them?". The last time I visited I had asked if they quarantine new fish in salt before adding them to the tanks, so I feel like I was a bit past the "bowl"-stage...

I agree it probably won't help the fish part of things, but it may help other animals a little as this law doesn't just apply to children it also applies to teenagers. Not that all teenagers are irresponsible and rebellious but of course some are and they may end up buying a pet their parents won't let them keep or that they don't look after properly. It won't help fish too much because unless you have done research or talked to someone knowledgeable then you probably won't know much whether you are 8 or 80 lol. I'm 19 and for the past 5 years I have known more about fish than my parents I totally think they should ask people if they have a proper tank, filtration etc. when buying a fish though...Even if they can't stop you from buying it and putting it in a bowl at least they can try and guide you in the right direction. Not once have I ever been asked either of those things...which proves my point!

Yeah I think we are all way past the bowl stage...lol

I am going to ask my local aquarium shop how many they recommend next time I go there too. I've always found them pretty good but have never asked them about stocking my tank as I already know the answer to that

Thats a lot better than the pet shop australiancomet went to...but still not good advice. 10 Gallon (40 litres) per goldfish. But I think it should be 20 gallons for your first fish and then 10 gallons for every fish you add from there on. Just because I think a 10 gallon tank isn't very big for one goldy, especially a common or comet as they get so big!

Abbie, I agree, if you want to keep only one goldfish, you need a 20 gallon, just for the size of the tank! But if you have something bigger, it's fine to count 10 gal per fish

When I was younger btw and we got our first fish, I was the one doing all the research about species we wanted to keep and whatnot I even got the first water tests (But didn't really use them, and the fish were thriving anyway)I think I was about 10... now I'm 19 though, and I use to place sickness diagnosis on all our fish and my cousin's fish whenever there are problems

Here in the USA we already have a law inacted that states nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to buy any live fish - including feeders which many parents send their kids into the store to pick up 10 or so for their Oscar.

There was one lady at our LFS (she looked to be about 21, maybe more) who wanted to buy a fish just to watch it die. And legally they could sell her fish even though she openly stated her abusive purposes for them.

It's not really your age that matters in my humble opinion...its whether or not you know what you're doing.

I propose a different way to prevent fish abuse if one wants to buy a fish: a quiz on your knowledge of the fish and their keeping. If you pass, you get the right to buy the fish. If you fail, you can't have one. Simple as that. Of course, that's just my daydream of a perfect world

Maybe that law is different in each state because I've seen kids, under 10 go get fish at our local grocery store( yes, they sell live fish, tropical and goldfish), by themselves, no parent around. I remember when we were young we would go down to the local variety store and buy fish and sneak them home.One time we hid baby mice in our closet. Our parents wouldn't let us have pets.

I agree with the law, but it wont stop the pet store giving wrong advice, when i started i had a 20 ltr tank with 4 comets, i noticed they wernt happy and found this site to find out why, i soon learnt that i had far to many fishies for my tank, now i bought a bigger tank and they are far happier!, if i went to the pet store the guy probably would have suggested they were lonley and needed more fish!! I might try the pet store around the corner from the one i mentioned above and see what they say.

This is true, australiancomet. They also should bring in a law that only trained people are allowed to give advice and they should sit a test before being employed. And the trainees in pet shops should wear a "trainee" badge and shouldn't be allowed to recommend stuff in absence of a trained person.

Yeah ergh I just feel sorry for all those poor fishies out there who don't stand a chance Maybe there should be a test you take online or in stores or something and if you get full marks then you can get a 'fish card'. They should become a worldwide standard lol if you don't have a fish card then you aren't allowed to buy any fish. At least then you have learnt something about fish and the extra effort may stop negligent people who 'can't be bothered' from buying them. I doubt this will ever happen lol but I think it would be a cool idea. Like with reptiles I'm pretty sure you can't own/buy them unless you have a license (well at least in Australia)...though I'm not exactly sure what you have to do to get that license.

Oh for pete's sakes you can just go online and buy 1000 feeder fish for about a penny a piece!

Minde, dig a BIIIIIIIG pond and save those fishies, hehehe, aquascape it and landscape around it and then you can make it into a public attraction and sell tickets. Maybe a tea house next to the big pond...and some educational lessons....

Yeah and then someone else will be breeding feeders and I would have to save those million.(shakes head) You just couldn't save them all! One time I went into our local feed store and she gave me some feeder fish in a jar.She said go ahead and take them for your pond no charge, I already made more than enough money on my feeders.Feeder goldfish are big business. You can get them almost anywhere including bait shops.

And people get fish and then after a few months or years for whatever reason they get tired of them or their kid loses interest.I get tired of rescueing fish. I've rescued fish from schools and from people who didn't want them anymore and were either going to feed them to the cat or just flush them! Most people I think have this idea when they buy their kid a fish that it's only suppose to live a few months.Hence the bowl they buy cuz they don't want to invest in something long term.

I guess the best thing we can do is take care of the fish we have. Give them the best possible care, and try to educate family and friends and people who come on here and want to learn to take better care of their fish. I think that's all we can do.

We've been taking care of fish from here and there as well... long ago though One of them is a bristlenose that still lives in the tank! He's the biggest guy with his 10cm

If parents don't want buy anything long term, stick to hamsters or... guppies. I had guppies, loved them, and they don't live for much longer than a year! And a male-only setup would provide "entertainment" for the kids (and I DO HOPE the parents have some responsibility for them fish too!!!!!! ) at least a while, at the same time as it'd teach them to care for animals. A kid would easily take care of guppies with mommy's help They need far less space than a goldfish too and they can actually feel good and be healthy in a smaller setup!